Who is the best goalie of the modern era?

[Yzerman191 37]

Just curious what you guys think: who is the best modern-era goaltender? This includes guys like Roy, Brodeur, Belfour, Joseph, Hasek, and some others.

Personally, I'd have to go with Hasek. Hasek's 1998 Olympics goaltending was by far the best I've ever seen. He led a relatively weak Czech team through Finland, US, Canada and Russia, some of the best teams in the world, and to the gold. He's got two Hart trophies, two Pearsons, SIX Vezinas, and three Jennings. He holds the record for the lowest career save percentage of any goaltender (well, since they started recording it) over both Brodeur and Roy.

So who is your pick? Also, who is the most overrated goaltender of the modern era?

[Hockeytown0001 7,652]

Brodeur > everyone else. Period.

[Datsyerberger 279]

Hasek and it's not really too close, he's as close as a goaltender has got to Gretzky/Howe/Lemieux/Orr in terms of outright dominant play at a position. I would've loved to see him on a good team for the bulk of his career where he outcompeted Roy, Brodeur, and to a lesser extent Osgood on what would've otherwise been a bottom feeder.

After Hasek, Roy in terms of actual play and clutch play, and Brodeur in terms of record setting stats and consistency. Take your pick.

Osgood a bit after them for clutch play, consistency (mostly) and adaptability, as well as record stats.

Edit: I'm assuming modern era basically means Patrick Roy and beyond, with the popularization of butterfly.

Curious that although butterfly is generally superior among starting goaltenders, among the upper eschelon 2 out of my 4 are hybrids (Ozzie, Brodeur) and 1 of them is.. well, whatever Hasek is. I would suggest this is because of the effect butterfly style has on longevity, and also that we're only just getting into the strong era of dominant butterflyers (Luongo, Miller, etc) before they've had a chance to rack up career stats.

Edited December 24, 2009 by Datsyerberger

[Miller Brew 0]

While Brodeur has very respectable stats, numbers and career, if you watch games with Hasek in his prime compared to Brodeur in his prime, you'll see Hasek was light years ahead of Brodeur. Hasek started his career in the NHL too late to out-do a lot stats & numbers.

[Yzerman191 37]

I would probably put Brodeur behind both Hasek and Roy on my list. While it may seem like a slight considering some of his records, many of those records are really team stats. Shutouts for example, aren't necessarily always dependent on the goaltender. Don't get me wrong, goaltenders can be the sole reason for the shutout, but I'm not convinced that's been the story over 100 times in Brodeur's case. Also, wins certainly aren't solely based on the efforts of the goalie. Wins are a team effort, and while the goaltender contributes, there are other factors that can greatly inflate this statistic. Brodeur is a terrific goaltender who has played under a terrific system, often with very talented defensive players.

Everybody says that Brodeur is the "big game" goalie, and that's precisely one of the reasons I rank Roy above him. In 1998, Roy was given the start over Brodeur. And again in 2002, Joseph was initially given the start over Brodeur (though I'm convinced Roy would've gotten the start over both had he decided to participate, but that's just speculation). Brodeur has four Vezinas (all after Hasek and Roy retired for the first time), four Jennings, and no Conn Smythe trophies. I'm not convinced he was the big game goalie that Roy was; he certainly never carried a team to the Cup (IE Roy in 1993). Roy won THREE Conn Smythe trophies.

The only area I give Brodeur the nod over any other goalie in this era is in the measure of consistency and longevity. Neither Hasek nor Roy have been as consistently good as Brodeur, and even at 37, he's still posting pretty impressive numbers. He's in his 16th NHL season (compared to Roy, who retired after 19) but has played 65+ games in 13 seasons, always posting impressive numbers. Hasek played 15 seasons, but played over 65 games just 5 times. Not exactly impressive when considering longevity or consistency. However, in each of those 5 seasons, plus the lockout year, Hasek won the Vezina.

In my opinion, the real debate is between Hasek and Roy. We'll never know who truly is the better goaltender, as Hasek tripped on the stick too early.

[interminded 1]

When does the modern era begin ?

[TheOwl 77]

Brodeur > everyone else. Period.

Why because he's played more games? In nearly every stat that has nothing to do with purely number of games played, Hasek and Brodeur are extremely close. Hasek also won 6 Vezina's, while Brodeur was playing in his prime, 3 Jennings, 2 Harts, record for post season shut-outs.

Anyone would be far pressed to prove using stats, or anything, that Brodeur is better then Hasek. IMO Hasek was the more dominant goalie, while Brodeur has always played for a defensive/trapping team.

No way you can say Brodeur is far better. It's like the morons who say Luongo is the best goalie on the planet.

[Guest Lidstromboli]

brodeur is far better

look i just said it!

[eva unit zero 271]

Roy is somewhat overrated as a big-game goalie.

He won the Smythe in 93 and people say he carried a weak Montreal team to the Cup. Roy had one of his worst regular seasons that year, and Montreal still finished with over 100 points, among the best teams in the league. He was clutch, but he wasn't the sole reason they won the Cup as many like to say. In Colorado it's debatable whether he deserved it; IMHO he won it out of reputation.

Considering all of that, if you consider the modern era to be the last 25 years, it's pretty clear that the top five are Hasek, Brodeur, Roy, Osgood, and Belfour. Hasek vs Brodeur is very close; Roy-Osgood-Belfour is how I would order 3 to 5. Honorable mention goes to Vanbiesbrouck, Barrasso, Vernon, Hextall, and Richter. All clutch goalies who played their best in the postseason, with consistently excellent regular season play.

[Reds4Life 51]

Hasek

Roy

Brodeur

[Hockeymom1960 5,107]

Hasek all the way!

[The Secret 304]

I think Hasek for best of the modern era and for overrated... J.S Giguerre for sure.

[Paolino99 5]

1) Hasek

2) Brodeur

3) Roy

4) Joseph

5) Belfour-Richter

[interminded 1]

okay, I did some research.

The modern era in the NHL begins in the 1967-68 season.

We're all talking about Hasek, Roy and Brodeur.

Yet nobody mentions Ken Dryden, Tony Esposito, Bernie Parent or Glenn Hall even.

My top-5 from 1967 till now would be:

1. Brodeur

2. Hasek

3. Dryden

4. Parent

5. Roy

[Finnish Wing 110]

Luongo is overrated.

[RainingBlood 8]

Norm Maracle

[GMRwings1983 8,803]

Roy or Tretiak

Roy won the Conn Smythe in 3 different decades. That's pretty damn special right there. Also, the first half of his career was played in the most offensive era in hockey history. Unlike Brodeur who was born into "the trap".

Too bad Tretiak didn't play in the NHL, or else he'd easily be considered here.

I can see myself changing in the future and throwing Hasek in there as well.

Edited December 24, 2009 by GMRwings1983

[Finnish Wing 110]

Roy or Tretiak

Won the Conn Smythe in 3 different decades. That's pretty damn special right there. Also, the first half of his career was played in the most offensive era in hockey history. Unlike Brodeur who was born into "the trap".

Too bad Tretiak didn't play in the NHL, or else he'd easily be considered here.

I can see myself changing in the future in throwing Hasek in there as well.

Kinda funny that nobody even mentioned Tretiak before this post. Tretiak could be considered by some as the best goalie ever played the game. Shame, really, that he didn't play in the NHL.

[eva unit zero 271]

Kinda funny that nobody even mentioned Tretiak before this post. Tretiak could be considered by some as the best goalie ever played the game. Shame, really, that he didn't play in the NHL.

If we're going back as far as Tretiak, we have to also consider Billy Smith on the list. Huge clutch goalie. But Tretiak definitely tops any post-O6 list if he played any reasonable amount within the defined period.

[cjm502 165]

Goaltending is all about save %, and clutch performances. Fatso has just played more games than everyone else, and is very consistent. Brodeurs all time NHL save % is .914. That is slightly above average. If you factor how good of a team he has been on his entire career, and how many games he has played it makes him look much better than he is. Anyways, my pick is Hasek.

[eva unit zero 271]

Goaltending is all about save %, and clutch performances. Fatso has just played more games than everyone else, and is very consistent. Brodeurs all time NHL save % is .914. That is slightly above average. If you factor how good of a team he has been on his entire career, and how many games he has played it makes him look much better than he is. Anyways, my pick is Hasek.

"Average" save percentage has varied wildly over the years. If I remember correctly, the league leader in 1993 had a .907 mark. Grant Fuhr's career mark is .887, and he only topped .900 twice; in St. Louis in 95-96 and 96-97, with a .903 and .901 respectively. He's considered one of the best goalies of the past 25 years and his "important stats" are crap compared to "all-time" averages.

Just like Joe Malone's 44 goals in 20 games has to be taken into context. He led the league by a fair margin, but it's unlikely he would score 180 goals in today's NHL if you adjust for all the differences between the eras, such as the conditioning and training, as well as the playing style, or the fact he played 45-50 minutes of the game in his era. Still an impressive season, but how many goals do today's great goal scorers get in 20 games of playing 50 minutes? Based just on goals per minute, Ovechkin's best year comes out pretty close to Malone's.

Edited December 24, 2009 by eva unit zero

[Yzerman191 37]

I considered Tretiak, but I've never actually seen him play, so I can't rate him. As for the "modern" era, I had the 1980's and after in mind, but feel free to define it however you want. I didn't want Sawchuk in the debate because for many, there wouldn't be a debate.

As for the argument against Roy, I think it's hard to dispute the fact that he is a big game goaltender, especially using 1993 as an example. Towards the beginning of his career, he played against some of the best players to ever play the game in the prime of their careers (Lemieux, Gretzky, Yzerman, Messier, Hull, etc.). In fact, at the time, 1993 was the highest-scoring regular season in the history of the NHL, with the goal per game average sitting at 7.25. In 1993, three of the final five games against Gretzky's Kings went into overtime, and 13 of 20 of the playoff games were won by just a single goal. His save percentage in that playoff run was .929. The Habs top five forwards were Damphousse, Kirk Muller, Brian Bellows, Mike Keane, and Eric Desjardins, with only Damphousse scoring at a point per game pace. This wasn't a stacked Canadiens roster that won the Cup.

I'm also surprised nobody mentioned Curtis Joseph in there top five, yet so many people have talked about Ed Belfour. Their stats are pretty similar, with Belfour usually playing on better teams (Joseph actually holds the record for most losses of any goaltender, if I'm not mistaken). I'm not necessarily saying Joseph is better than Belfour, but their regular season save percentages (Belfour's .906 vs. CuJo's .904) and playoff save percentages (.920 vs. .917) are very similar.

EDIT: Also, thinking about it, Richter is pretty similar to CuJo statistically as well.

Edited December 24, 2009 by Yzerman191

[Barrie 900]

I would take Brodeur without thinking about it to hard. As great as Roy was, he was unable to keep his emotions in check all the time. As Wings fans, he played excellent against us, but we've also saw him at his worst. His, "Let's Play" speech in the 1997 WCF and 7-0 loss in 2002 stand out to me. Brodeur has the level headed attitude I like in big games.

I'm not sure about Hasek, because he only made it to two finals as a starter. I know he didn't always play on the best team, but also I think about his wandering when pucks are behind the net. It was too difficult on the nerves watching him leave the crease.

[GMRwings1983 8,803]

I would take Brodeur without thinking about it to hard. As great as Roy was, he was unable to keep his emotions in check all the time. As Wings fans, he played excellent against us, but we've also saw him at his worst. His, "Let's Play" speech in the 1997 WCF and 7-0 loss in 2002 stand out to me. Brodeur has the level headed attitude I like in big games.

I'm not sure about Hasek, because he only made it to two finals as a starter. I know he didn't always play on the best team, but also I think about his wandering when pucks are behind the net. It was too difficult on the nerves watching him leave the crease.

Level headed attitude, my ass.

Brodeur got knocked off his game by Sean Avery in the playoffs a few years ago. He can be rattled just like any other goalie.

That shouldn't be your basis for picking him over Roy. Many of the greatest goalies were hotheads. Look at Belfour or Billy Smith.

I think that's also what made Roy as great as he was, is his competitiveness and fire. It's part of his style.

[Barrie 900]

Level headed attitude, my ass.

Brodeur got knocked off his game by Sean Avery in the playoffs a few years ago. He can be rattled just like any other goalie.

That shouldn't be your basis for picking him over Roy. Many of the greatest goalies were hotheads. Look at Belfour or Billy Smith.

I think that's also what made Roy as great as he was, is his competitiveness and fire. It's part of his style.

To each their own. Roy just seemed to be to much of a story sometimes. When he was off his game, he was really off his game, couldn't just let things go, and could really embarrass himself and his team. Remember him calling Osgood out to fight in 1998 too? Despite getting in more blows, Ozzie came out ahead.

I think Roy had to much fire.